UPDATED: Former Bonanno capo Dominick Cicale, a key government witness against ex-acting boss Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano and other crime family cohorts in 2012, is calling for the judge to throw the book at his erstwhile boss's son, Stephen Basciano.

[And, as if on cue, the judge slammed Basciano today with a three-and- one-half-year sentence in federal prison.]

In a letter obtained by Cosa Nostra News, which was not sent to the judge, Cicale noted:

Stephen is a career criminal who has sold drugs and committed various crimes since 2002. Out of all the Basciano sons, Stephen is the most dangerous due to his impulsiveness. Basically he acts without thinking.

Stephen has been recorded on tape bragging about owning a gun with a silencer. That is true. Steven has a nine millimeter handgun with a fitted silencer that I had given him before my arrest in 2005. That deadly weapon was mine.

This isn't just Cicale trying to step on Basciano's sons. He sincerely considers Stephen to be a menace to society.

It was only last month that Cicale was singing a very different tune for another of Vinny Gorgeous's sons. As CrimeBeat reported: "Cicale mailed a letter on July 3, 2014 to Manhattan Judge Richard Sullivan asking for leniency in the sentencing of Joseph Basciano."

"The same murderous mobster-turned-rat who helped get Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano sent away for life has asked a federal judge to show leniency to the Bonanno boss’ drug-dealing son, claiming the 28-year-old could become “the next John Gotti” if sent to prison.

Ex-Bonanno capo Dominick Cicale, 46, wrote Manhattan federal Judge Richard Sullivan a July 3 letter saying he believes the jurist’s decision days earlier to sentence Joseph Basciano to six months in jail for running a marijuana enterprise with his two brothers would only lead him down the “path” to becoming a lifetime wiseguy.

“Everyone [in jail] will be watching, guiding and grooming him out of respect for Vincent Sr.’s stature and status,” Cicale wrote. “This good young man will walk out of federal prison feeling that he is the next John Gotti.”

Cicale continued that Joseph is a “smart college boy.”

Sullivan cut Joseph a break, doling out a six-month sentence. He could have slapped him with up to two years in prison under his plea deal.

Stephen, 30, is scheduled to be sentenced by Sullivan on Friday for running a mini-marijuana enterprise with his brothers. He faces up to 57 months in prison under a plea deal, but his lawyer is seeking a sentence “well below” that.

In a two-page handwritten plea crafted by Stephen in his cell at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center to Manhattan federal Judge Richard Sullivan, he declared: "I love my father with all my heart, and my heart bleeds for him [for] what he is going though, but I do not have plans to chose the life he lived or walk down the same path he did."

“The choice I made by selling marijuana made my mother so upset that she hasn’t spoken to me since my arrest [in September 2013],” Stephen further noted.

He also calls Sullivan a “very popular judge," and adds that his father’s arrest eight years ago “turned my world upside down.” Stephen had to shut down a body shop he co-owned.

As far as Cicale is concerned, the judge should lock Stephen up and toss the key, he wrote in his letter that we obtained:

I do not believe that Stephen Basciano merits a downward departure from Judge Sullivan. The letter that he wrote to the court is total bullshit. The sole truth in that letter is the part about Stephen idolizing his father...

...The biggest lie in Stephen's letter to Judge Sullivan -- "My Mommy has not spoken to me...." I know Steven's mother extremely well and there is no way she would disown her son. Judge Sullivan should request from the BOP Stephen's phone records and visitation records to confirm whether Stephen is in contact with his mother.

Vincent Basciano, 54, and ex-acting boss of the Bonanno crime family, is serving two life sentences for mob murders.

Stephen, along with brothers Vincent Jr., 32, and Joseph, 28, pleaded guilty earlier this year to running the pot ring, which involved hundreds of pounds of pot for New York distribution between 2009 and 2013.

Cicale had faced two life terms but Brooklyn federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis gave him a break for the “extraordinary assistance” he provided.

Cicale was released in 2013 after spending nearly eight years in prison.

Comments

I just looked at the topic of dicussion as Organized Crime in America. I think there's many perspective's that need to come to light in terms of professional's. Salvatore Dali's- Persistence of Memory leaves a notion that too many people are being abused on Mental Health Medicine. The Reconciliation is a mile long. People become vulnerable when other's are not practicing fair routine. Enourmous Medicaid Spendowns allow facilities to pour medicine down people's throats. As a growing America I think the focus needs to shift.

Why do these turncoats that are already immune insist on stepping in when not requested? Is it personal? Redemption? How serious do the judges take these letters regardless if its for or against the defendant? I don't get it. Whether its Cicale or Leonetti, how much stock could ya put into it? But hey, what do I know?

It's never personal... The only letter sent to Judge Sullivan was a strong positive letter supporting Joseph Basciano....This statement about Steven Basciano never was sent to the Judge... JUST STATING FACTS!!

No excuses... You are correct... Did 20 years in the PEN & 10 for a crime I never committed.... Keeping in real... When Steven Basciano Kills someone in your family with that 9mm fitted with a silencer, then you will be speaking out... WHY DID THE JUDGE CUT THIS CRAZED, UNSTABLE, VIOLENT MAN A BREAK!!

This informant acts like getting a gun with a fitted silencer is a hard thing to obtain. First of all, go to a gun show in either Virginia or West Virginia. Those rednecks will sell guns to anybody because they feel its their right to promote the 2nd amendment. He could also manufacture his own hand gun if he had a 3d printer. Mr. Cicale's " logical points" just do not hold any merit.

The same reason he cut you a break, Dom. The same reason all those guys cut you a break...many times. Remember the cemetery? They cut you a break then, whether you think so or not. Mikey told me "they should've killed him then." We know very well that Judges cut soooo many breaks for wiseguys.

My son is doing fed time now for a pot issue....No breaks were given....but he did not talk.....while everyone else did.....and when the domino's fell they ended with him and he let it be....its not right for a judge to pick and choose who they want to be hard on and hand down harsh sentencing....even though i understand the crazy and violent part

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